Keeping Reviewing and Ranting to an Artform.

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All posts for the month October, 2013

These are two words that get tossed about together these days probably more than they ever have in the history of the human race due to the advancement, stop laughing damn it, of communications technology. This person’s ethics are wanting, that person has a lack of integrity, you better be able to stand behind that statement,…., tedious eh?

Here’s my take on this situation from a very simple, reducing stress and no sense inviting a stroke or heart issue over it, approach. If you can not make a defensible logical argument to support it then do not sign it. Don’t sign something just to get some nagging know it all, they really don’t, off of your back. Don’t agree to something because it’s how it has always been done when you know it isn’t correct. And don’t let that bastard own you with worthless stress over things that in the long view do not have an impact.

Back to reality.
The above paragraph pushes a position that seems righteous and valid yet it is really becoming unsustainable in the extreme. Everyday in some facet of life we run into things that will test our ethics. As a functioning, contributing adult in society we will hit situations that require integrity to see us through. In the end it really is what we are left with so don’t give it away. Rather I invite you to pick your battles using discretion and get perspective to differentiate mountains from mole-hills. Depending on whether you are a mole.

A tale of childhood suffering, domestic violence and dysfunction evolved into a thriller romance. I enjoyed the plot twists and how the author allowed for pace to reveal the back-story necessary by creating situations for the protagonist to be interviewed. It really is more enjoyable to read it in that form than a narrator info dump. Emily is the protagonist and her tortured past has led her into a situation where she has a stalker-creeper. The length of the list of possible perpetrators speaks volumes towards Emily’s emotional condition.

The verbiage, grammar and use of slang was good and didn’t take away from the story as it has in some works I’ve read. Any issues I had with this book had to do with transitions. I’m not a fan of the speaker changing within a paragraph. Writing breaks within chapters could likely be used to change scenes as opposed to ‘she was on the phone in her kitchen’ and one sentence later in the same paragraph ‘she was almost to Stan’s house’. These may seem kind of picky to some but they detract from the story for me.

Overall I enjoyed the work. I recommend it for readers seventeen and older due to the subject matter.

Lieutenant Jander Mortas is a newbie dreaming his way into his first Infantry platoon in an…interstellar war…with a race of biped mammalian clones that really seem to be pretty much like humans. He makes all kinds of newbie mistakes and only barely manages to maintain his focus on surviving and protecting apparently driven by all the war zone hero stuff he grew up with as a kid in place of other things a child could use. The reason he has to focus so hard on surviving is that he and three others have crash landed on an inhospitable yet habitable world.

Chance has given Mortas his first unit and it is an unlikely bunch. They must prioritize to survive this seemingly unpopulated world and get back to the zone. He is in charge after he convinces the others or does he? There are a lot of plot twists to ensure that the reader will not get bored and only a very few will guess correctly.

The editing was excellent and it was a very enjoyable read. I will caution on the one piece of weak armor that I discovered and that was in the science…fiction part. The use in the plot of a device referred to as the Step needs some more meat to it or the tossing around of intergalactic jumps pushes this story beyond reach. It is enough for us to just accept that we might be able to travel between star systems but if you want to do galaxies I would challenge you to suspend my disbelief by hitting us with a primer on…The Step.

I recommend this read to anyone who likes military science fiction like that of Joe Haldeman. It will also appeal to readers who enjoy Philip K Dick’s stories like The Other Variety which made it to film as Screamers. Excellent job.